Tuesday, October 1, 2013

Nancy's Most Wanted (have you seen this man?)

It was a lovely Friday in May. Friday is normally my day
off, but I decided that I would spend a bit of this one at the church, planting
flowers. I didn’t bother to stop at my office, but parked out front and opened
the hatch to my Honda Fit where I had everything I needed: potting soil, a
few flats of flowers, hand shovel and
garden gloves. It was only three planters, so it wouldn’t take me long. First,
I cleared away the winter pansies and worked a little soil into the earth. Then
I planted half a dozen vincas in each one and poured a little water on them. No
problem.

Before I was finished with the job, I had to get rid of the
old plants. After putting them in a garbage bag, I walked around the side of
the church to throw it in the dumpster. I was away from my car for 30 seconds,
tops. And that’s all it took. When I returned, my was purse gone, along
with the phone I had owned for less than two weeks. The police were no help. My
stuff was gone. I had to suck it up and deal with it. So, I spent the rest of
my day on the phone cancelling charge cards, at the bank figuring out how to
get money, going to the DMV for my new driver’s license, which now has a very
rough photo of me that I won’t even let my children see. (No make-up, a rat’s nest on my head and a
crabby look on my face -- Hey, I was doing yard work.)

As I worked my way through the unexpected hassles of the
day, I was furious with myself. I should have known better. It would have been
so easy for me to just place the purse and phone in my office when I arrived at
the church. How could I have been so stupid? After spending all day kicking
myself, it’s a wonder I could sit down.

And then, there was the issue of the phone. Fortunately, I had bought into the insurance, and I had a new phone the
next morning. Yeah, I had to re-program
everything on a phone that I was just learning how to use, but it could have
been worse. The folks at Verizon were very helpful… after I went back the third
time to get it connected.

It’s one of the new Windows smart phones, a Nokia 4G
something or another, and it takes really good pictures. And that’s where the
story gets interesting. Since they cancelled my phone, I’m assuming the person
who stole it can’t use it as a phone, but, apparently, he can still use it as a
camera. I know this because he saves the pictures he takes on the SkyDrive, so
I can see them! (I suppose he can see mine, too. I wonder if he enjoyed my
vacation.) At first I wondered, why are these random pictures of people I don't know appearing on my phone? Then, I realized that it was him -- my thief.

Now, there’s something so wrong about this. When I was
robbed, I took responsibility for my part in that. I kicked myself for my
carelessness, but knew that I just had to let it go and move on. What was done
was done and there was nothing I could do about it. I’ve been robbed in the
past, and I know that’s the only way to deal with it. But when someone robs
you, they’re supposed to disappear and you’re not supposed to see them again.
You’re certainly not supposed to be watching them having a grand time with what
they stole from you. It’s unconscionable. I’m not angry at myself anymore. Now, I'm angry with the thief. Not only did he steal what was mine, but he continues to rub my
nose in it!

The church secretary saw the thief run from my car, so I know that
it was an African-American man, and I have every reason to believe he is the
star of his own picture show. (If the man pictured isn’t the original thief,
he knows he’s using a stolen phone, so, yes, he’s still a thief.) Altogether, I
have about 80 pictures on my phone that the thief has taken.

Here he is. Kinda
cute… for a thief. This one was posted a few hours ago.

And here’s his girlfriend. He didn’t do bad… for a thief.

This, apparently, is their little girl. Adorable. I
wonder if she knows her daddy is a thief.

Can anyone tell me, is this person doing something illegal?

They have a Jordan jersey on the wall in their home. I
wonder if he stole that, too.

Do you think this is directed at me? Sure feels that way.

Oh, I could go on, but you’ve probably had enough. The next
time you see me, if you’d like to see more, I’d be glad to share them with you.
I wonder how long he will continue to share his life with me. And I wonder how
long I will look at them without becoming infuriated. If you see this person,
would you please tell him to at least have the decency to stop posting his
pictures on my SkyDrive? Stealing is one thing, but this is just
plain mean.

I went to the station and the door was locked; they were all out in the field. (Apparently it's not like it is on T.V.) So I called and got a nice woman. She told me to email some pictures to her, which I did. Then she was going to give them to the officer in charge of my case.(I had filed a report back in May when I was robbed.) That's all for now.

About Me

Nancy is an ordained pastor of the Evangelical Lutheran Church in America. She serves at Ascension Lutheran Church in Towson, Maryland. Nancy grew up in Hamilton, Ohio, and then served time at Bowling Green State University, before moving on to Trinity Seminary in Columbus. Starting out in North Dakota, she then returned to Ohio and served churches there before landing in North Carolina, where she served at two different congregations in Charlotte. She was also on the bishop's staff and earned a PhD from Pitt during her spare time in the area of religion and education. She considers herself an educator who happens to be a pastor and it makes a difference in how she does ministry. She is a divorce survivor, and the mother of two artsy-fartsy children who abandoned her when they became adults. Now she shares a home with Father Guido Sarducci, her tuxedo cat.